


Smaller Stars Glowing

by sebastianathefirst



Series: Fire at the Heart of the World [3]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-17
Updated: 2015-12-17
Packaged: 2018-05-06 23:39:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5435141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sebastianathefirst/pseuds/sebastianathefirst
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hono finds new company after her year-long sleep. She realizes that she's not at all pressed to return to normal.</p><p>[set during coded]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Mickey smiled at Donald and Goofy before raising an arm to summon his Keyblade. He looked up at the capsule, and the bookshelves that moved aside to uncover it. Inside was Hono, asleep and hidden from Xehanort's watch. He had his splendid queen to thank for that, chuckling inwardly when Minnie fussed over giving Hono better quarters.

He soon wondered, for the thousandth time, why he hadn't done it sooner.

"She's been sleepin' here this whole time?" Goofy asked. "Pardon me, sir, but why didn't you tell us?"

"I sent Pluto to you," Mickey shrugged, stroking said dog under his ear. "Thankfully, the Heartless weren't able to reach _this_ place."

He gazed at Hono's sleeping face, and gave a sorrowful sigh. "...Ansem succeeded in keeping them apart."

"Ansem, sire?" Donald repeated.

"That's why defeating him wasn't for nothing." Mickey lifted his Keyblade to the capsule. "You guys...and Sora...you did it for her."

The Keyblade began to glow almost blindingly, and within moments, the capsule's barrier had melted away. It was time to wake.

There really were no coincidences.

* * *

He sensed something was wrong as he watched Hono lift herself from the floor. Though she had been bathed in Minnie's light for a year, none of it reflected in her eyes. She moved at a snail's pace, as if her thin limbs weighed tons more. Goofy wrapped an arm around her chest, and pulled her upright. "Gee, Hono, are you okay?"

She looked at Goofy, and Mickey noted the several moments it took for her to recognize him. "Just...tired. Thank you, Captain." She looked to Donald, then Mickey. "...Is Sora with you?"

Donald shook his head. "Your home's been restored. Sora, Riku, and Kairi are all there."

"Home," Hono repeated, and placed a hand over her chest. Her eyes fell on Mickey, and, on instinct, reported, "A flash of pain...then nothing."

Mickey moved forward, and took her hands. "Hono, remember the promise I made you? I've kept it as best as I could. Riku's safe." She made a perplexing face, and nodded. Mickey's lip quivered. _Too weak._ "Why don't you go see Daisy? She'll see to you while I finish things here. Then we can send you home."

She nodded again, and dropped into a low curtsy before leaving—floating—towards the exit.

In the silence that followed, Mickey gave one look to Jiminy Cricket, who sat on the edge of his writing desk. With a bow of his own, Jiminy bounded for his journal, and tugged at the front cover. 

Donald turned to his king, but spoke as a friend well-versed in his anxieties. "Is she going to be okay?"

Mickey took a breath too deep. Of _course_ he wouldn't be able to restore her heart completely. His master would be, in his slight twisted way, pleased to know that there remain things that he might not have fathomed.

He regretted that there were more pressing matters. It pained him that he could not reunite them yet, whether it was in terms of how long or how much.


	2. Chapter 2

In waking, Ansem wrapped his hand around Hono's throat often enough. They were only painful enough to restrain her, and measured by the swing of her legs and the twitching of her fingers, and her overall weakness to resist.

But when Ansem's face warped into Riku's, and his grip threatened to crush her neck, she opened her eyes.

The bits of gloss stuck to her ceiling glimmered. Stars, the king said, to remind her of home. Or, that she didn't truly belong _here_. Sitting up, she felt for her pulse with her fingertips. The dream quickened its pace, but no more. No sweat, no injury.

Her room had no windows, discouraging her from remaining inside whenever awake. With guards posted all over the castle, she was permitted to linger in the halls at least. It took her a moment to recall what it was she did when even sleep could not indulge her.

She dressed and departed her chambers, eyeing the guard stationed at her door. "Evenin', Miss," he stiffened his body in greeting. When Hono opted to gape instead of reply, he tensed. "We haven't had the pleasure of meeting. Didn't move here until after I completed training. Name's Max."

She narrowed her brows inquisitively as the new guard spoke with less and less formality, and noted the thick tufts of hair poking out of his helm. "Where's PJ?" she finally asked.

"Ah," Max averted his gaze, scratching his cheek. "Left the guard a year ago. After you ran, I think." He caught a glint in Hono's eye, and waved his hands, "It wasn't your fault! He just made his own choices, is all! We can see him in the morning!"

Hono took a step back, but gave no sign that she was taking her leave. She motioned Max to her side. "We?"

"He and I grew up together," Max paused only for a second before moving closer. He could feel a coil in his stomach; PJ always told him how pretty she was, but never how _thin_ or how  _pale_. "His dad got banished long ago, so my dad took him in. He entered the guard before I did, though. He'd talk about you in his letters."

Hono began to walk, encouraging Max to move astride, and pondered on a recollection of PJ writing. Then it came to her that this wasn't the first time she heard Max's name before.

"...You're the captain's son."

"And here I thought PJ wasn't telling enough stories," Max spoke a little breathlessly, hiding his face from her. "I...Dad, well... _the king_ , actually...they wanted to keep a close eye on you, so they got me as soon as I was clear for duty."

They made a turn into a corridor with archways to the grounds lining one wall. Hono instinctively searched the higher terrace, finding the door to the library. The king had promised to send her to Sora and Riku once he'd addressed another concern.

It's been three days since she met him last.

"You didn't want this job?"

"No!" He was grateful that his outburst didn't take Hono aback, but Max suspected that courtly forebearance was not the reason. He slapped his hand over his face. "Wait, I meant...Dad's great, but having him all over me is gonna be suffocating. Figured PJ would help with that..." He lowered his head, murmuring in a low voice, "It's not you. I've never met a girl from another world before, and PJ says it's...you're...awesome."

Sora's face flashed in Hono's mind. Hearing him say it only ever made her smile. Hearing it from someone else compelled her to _feel_ something else.

She wasn't sure what to feel, but she knew what to say.

"PJ says the same of you," she replied, and allowed Max enough silence to regain his composure. Only his armor and her shoes echoed until they reached another door.

"The barracks?" Max wondered aloud as Hono turned the knob. She entered, inhaling the nostalgic smell of wood. Max, on the other hand, smelled fresh paint on the empty wall. What used to be there was piled on another: weapon racks, coats of arms, grindstones and anvils. The training dummies and their users, were crammed against another.

"It's been a while since the last time." She saw a few who came for the same reason she would, sharpening their minds sleep would not dull them. She could not recognize them, nor they her, but each offered their greetings, regardless.

Max drew closer to Hono, as if it was only her presence that permitted his. He wasn't entirely sure if guards were allowed here, but he wasn't going to risk his prospects by asking. "PJ says you fight."

"That was a long time ago, too." She crossed the room without as much as glancing at any of the weapons, the ends of her skirts swishing after her. Max followed, and they came to another door.

"This is the royal armory!" he gasped, watching her slide through and, looking sharply to the right, sighted her spear. The shaft was almost as tall as Hono herself, and its tip was a curved, single-edged blade. The guard that linked them was— _the strangest thing about it_ , Max would later agree with PJ—a thick garland of short, pointed leaves and closely bunched flowers, fastened by a plump, yellow star.

But Hono lifted it and swung her arms, proving to him it wasn't decorative, and to her that she had weakened. Tension gathered between her shoulders when she raised her arms, and pain shot up her back when she lunged.

"Um," Max spoke again, his hands swaying uselessly at his sides, "sparring isn't really one of talents. I _have_ talents, but..."

"Oh," she grunted, lowering her foot; he didn't notice she was pointing her toes, at all. She tapped the floor once with the pole, "I just came to get this back."

He cocked his head. "To spar, right?"

Hono shook hers, pausing to word her explanation. "Most children would keep stuffed animals." Max blushed at the memory of receiving one from his father just last year, but said nothing. She continued, cupping the star on her guard, "This...works the same way."

Max loosened his posture, remembering the first nights his father wouldn't come home, and why he was receiving stuffed animals in the first place. "You were...lonely?" When Hono wouldn't look at him, he rubbed his nape. "S-sorry. I thought you lived here because...you hated your world. I get it, though. It sucks to be apart from your friends."

She tried for a smile, but ended up—as she always did, ever since she awoke—with an odd wrinkle on her lips. "A lot."

In the few minutes that they'd accepted one another's company for lack of somebody else's, Max offered his arm, and Hono placed her spear in that. The leaves of the guard pricked his face like a rough brush. Then she held onto the other, pressing close against him as he escorted her back.

In a few short hours, he would knock at her door with orders from the returned king.

They never got to visit PJ.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Needed_ Max Goof somewhere in here. Dad!Goofy was best Goofy.
> 
> The spear is actually a [naginata](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naginata), a Japanese pole weapon commonly used by female samurai. The flowers attached to the guard are [Aster tataricus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aster_tataricus), or _shion_ , referring to Xion.


End file.
